Soft defence

[Ringas]

Defence and attitude wins games dragons have nether. Hard fast contact like the storms wins games .not slow soft defence for and against we are last.players look like they don't care less the match payments are still coming in if we loose or not.maybe dragons should have incentive contracts win bonus.I bet there would be some hard contact in defence then.there money comes to easy try working 50 hour weak for 60 k laying bricks or concreting

 

[TruSaint]

Defence and attitude wins games dragons have nether. Hard fast contact like the storms wins games .not slow soft defence for and against we are last.players look like they don't care less the match payments are still coming in if we loose or not.maybe dragons should have incentive contracts win bonus.I bet there would be some hard contact in defence then.there money comes to easy try working 50 hour weak for 60 k laying bricks or concreting

welcome to the forum.

We have leaked more points than any team in the comp, so yes I agree overall that our defence is shite.

 

[Ringas]

welcome to the forum.

We have leaked more points than any team in the comp, so yes I agree overall that our defence is shite.

Have a look at against points there is no worse than the dragons I see no will to win there,s something not right in the club players are not playing for the coach or pride of there club a bad attitude is in the club that needs to change

 

[TruSaint]

Have a look at against points there is no worse than the dragons I see no will to win there,s something not right in the club players are not playing for the coach or pride of there club a bad attitude is in the club that needs to change

Yes mate, I have seen the ladder.
Our defence is terrible and you are right. Our troubles have been highlighted, and range from coaching all the way to board level. Tough time to be a Dragons fan.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

It's a bit late to be addressing defensive problems at this stage of the season. This should have been done in the pre-season. Hard to see anything but a slow Dragon fade-out.

Funny that Mark Carroll puts all the responsibility for the club's performance on the players and then does a 180 degree turn and ridicules the decision (presumably Mary's) to rest Ben Hunt. Can't have it both ways Mark!!

 

[ChocOConnor]

Can someone tell me why our defence stands back and waits for the attack to come to them.

What is the strategy behind this style of defending. I see teams make 60-70m per set against us.

It has to be a coaching master stroke as I am baffled as to how it is supposed to control the speed of the game and the ruck

 

[Wittenberg]

We sit back and our line speed, except for sporadic moments in each game, is poor. I’d write more on this but I feel lethargic, uninspired and Maryized

 

[Carlton]

Can someone tell me why our defence stands back and waits for the attack to come to them.

What is the strategy behind this style of defending. I see teams make 60-70m per set against us.

It has to be a coaching master stroke as I am baffled as to how it is supposed to control the speed of the game and the ruck

A lot of this due to the fact we are losing the wrestle in the tackle. How many times do you see our tacklers fall off to the side and we have no markers? The Storm put numbers in the tackle, catch and hold, wrap up the ball and wait until the ref has called held to then put the player on the ground, turn the player onto their backs , they then peel off one at a time and make sure that the first player off goes back into the line and the last two are in marker.

Our problem with defence is we do not do all the small technical things very well. Its not so much about big hits, its about making "effective" tackles that control the game.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

We sit back and our line speed, except for sporadic moments in each game, is poor. I’d write more on this but I feel lethargic, uninspired and Maryized

Heaven help us if its contagious.

 

[BLM01]

Can someone tell me why our defence stands back and waits for the attack to come to them.

What is the strategy behind this style of defending. I see teams make 60-70m per set against us.

It has to be a coaching master stroke as I am baffled as to how it is supposed to control the speed of the game and the ruck

This....we do it when defending down their end. I watched the 1st half last night for the first time and in the main we were trying to speed out of the line down their end and slow the ruck (we did concede the 1st 3 penanlties in 5 minutes) Down our end you can see last weekend they were instructed to slide and it failed and the practise these days of going up high as 1st contact is a failure.and a blight on our defensive coaches
It just shows a good shoulder drive low tackle is what is needed with 1 at top.
Dragons coaching are to blame 50/50 with the players not puttting their shoulder in to it.

 

[BLM01]

A lot of this due to the fact we are losing the wrestle in the tackle. How many times do you see our tacklers fall off to the side and we have no markers? The Storm put numbers in the tackle, catch and hold, wrap up the ball and wait until the ref has called held to then put the player on the ground, turn the player onto their backs , they then peel off one at a time and make sure that the first player off goes back into the line and the last two are in marker.

Our problem with defence is we do not do all the small technical things very well. Its not so much about big hits, its about making "effective" tackles that control the game.

Agree but they tried early on but as you said they do it at the wrong times and get penalised then they have to get out quicker. As you say our side can not master the art of the slowing the ruck, wrestling or blocking runners tactics etc that good sides do.... as we make it look so obvious and poorly executed.

THE WHOLE DEBACLE GOES ON OUR COACHING....but they never get blamed except Mary hinself in press conferences after he blames the players 1st.

 

[possm]

I say the players have had enough and just aren't buying into Mary's stupid game plan anymore. The dressing room is lost and so Mary and his coaching staff need to be moved on now and a new head coach and assistants need to be appointed now so that he can be involved in the process of revamping the player roster and supervising remaining games and the off-season training program.

 

[Slackboy72]

Can someone tell me why our defence stands back and waits for the attack to come to them.

What is the strategy behind this style of defending. I see teams make 60-70m per set against us.

It has to be a coaching master stroke as I am baffled as to how it is supposed to control the speed of the game and the ruck

It's fitness.
Too many players not able to cope with the intensity of NRL on the field at one time.

Go back and look at our game in Melbourne last year. Two origin affected squads.
It was neck and neck up until the hour mark, a try-a-thon. 34-all IIRC.
Then, as if on cue, the NSW cup players called in to the squad hit the wall. It was if they couldn't run or tackle anymore. Four missed tackles in quick succession saw Melbourne rack up 50+ on us.

The real question is why these players are not up to the fitness required of NRL. Why do these players dominate in 20s and NSW cup and then fall so short of the mark given ample opportunity in 1sts.

Take a look at the Manly game.
Our forward pack was getting dominated from the get-go.
Our defence however was keeping us in the game and we were 8-0 up.
Then ... McInnes goes down with a concussion.
Line speed gone. Defensive discipline in the ruck, gone.
Nobody stepped up.
The domination that the Manly pack were threatening now had nothing to keep it in check.
Manly were atrocious. They should have put 80 on us and only managed 34.
We turned into a reserve grade squad in an instant.

And that is the problem. We're a mish mash of NSW cup and NRL players where the NSW cup players aren't coming up to standard for whatever reason. They should be developing but they aren't.
They should be getting better but they aren't. We have the talent at the club to be borderline top 4. We have the talent but they're not performing. In fact they're getting worse.

We need to re-build the team to an NRL standard.
We need to change our development of players.
We need to hit reset on how our football department operates.

 

[since77]

It's been obvious since the floggings we received in 2018 from Parra & Canterbury. Our defence is poorly coached. Consistent right side issues. Poor line speed. Players not drilled to play with fatigue.
Bennett fixed the defence, fitness and fatigue issues and won a comp with a backline that had only 1 set play in its bag of tricks.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Isn't Dean Young the defence coach? And if so hasn't he been the defence coach for the last few years? And what is Hornby's role? These 2 need to go. Been in the coaching ranks far to long and surely would not be on as much as Mary so let them move on to coaching somewhere else. Bring in Baz asap in the assistant coaching role. The quicker the better.

If only Mark Coyne took Mary with him to Singapore.

 

[Dragons 09]

Defence and attitude wins games dragons have nether. Hard fast contact like the storms wins games .not slow soft defence for and against we are last.players look like they don't care less the match payments are still coming in if we loose or not.maybe dragons should have incentive contracts win bonus.I bet there would be some hard contact in defence then.there money comes to easy try working 50 hour weak for 60 k laying bricks or concreting

Welcome mate and buckle up, you're in for a hell of a ride! I'm encouraged to see a couple of new members in the last couple of days, looks like there might be a mini groundswell of discontent finally becoming vocal. BTW, i agree with you, our attitude stinks, both on and off the field.

 

[TruSaint]

If only Mark Coyne took Mary with him to Singapore.

 

[hermidale1]

Isn't Dean Young the defence coach? And if so hasn't he been the defence coach for the last few years? And what is Hornby's role? These 2 need to go. Been in the coaching ranks far to long and surely would not be on as much as Mary so let them move on to coaching somewhere else. Bring in Baz asap in the assistant coaching role. The quicker the better.

If only Mark Coyne took Mary with him to Singapore.

Heard a whisper around the traps Barrett is already assisting unofficially doing video for Mary.
Hasn't helped.